Park hop with Barely 4 yo?

Belle1962

DIS Veteran
Joined
Aug 18, 1999
HI, it's been awhile since I took a child that young to Disney. We are going in Jan., which means shorter park hours. Staying on-site but plan on driving to parks. Is it worth it to park hop or should we just pick a park and spend the day there (minus any nap times)?
 
When my DS was younger, it was very difficult to plan and commit to evening activities. Sometimes we would make it back to the resort to nap. Sometimes he would fall asleep in his stroller and then we felt "stuck" in the park as we didn't want to wake him up to leave. Our plan, typically, was to hit a park at rope drop, leave after lunch (if he wasn't asleep already), rest at the resort and play the evening by ear. Personally, I would start with base tickets. If you find your child can handle it and you want to hop, you can always add the hopper onto your ticket at any guest service window at WDW.
 
We park hop with our kids frequently. MK in the morning is manageable, but I cannot do it after lunch, and our kids are good stroller nappers. We toss the twins in the stroller and hit the monorail for Epcot! At 3 they tended to fall asleep in the air conditioned 'ride' and we could sit down with an adult beverage and relax until they woke and head over to see Crush et al. We have also parked at another Epcot in the AM, used transit to get to MK in the morning, taken the monorail to Epcot at nap, and then been right next to our car when we were ready to leave.
Transit at naptime by car always resulted in one kid falling asleep in the car, which was a bit of a drag as we then would prefer just to sit in the car until they woke up (boo!). Transit at naptime on the bus was hit or miss that someone would fall asleep on the bus and then we would have 2 adults carrying 2 kids and a stroller- less than ideal but possible.
Generally we plan the AM with FP and food, nothing between lunch and dinner so Epcot or AK are better as there is still stuff do do without giant lines, and then plan dinner and a few low key evening FPs if there are any left.
 
We had hoppers for our last trip (with a 3 year old) and wound up never using them. On days we went to the parks early, my son passed out by 6pm. If we got up late, then we didn't hit the parks until after lunch (so still no hopping). We were at AKL though, so the distance was a factor. If we had been at one of the monorail resorts, we might well have stuck the sleeping kid in his stroller and gone to the parks for dinner.
 
Disclaimer: I haven't actually done this yet! But we are planning on park hopping on our upcoming trip - our kids are 2 and 4. I think this largely depends on naps and personal preference. Our kids absolutely need naps, so we'll be leaving the park midday either way, and personally I just really like to park hop! Not sure why...I just like the variety of rope dropping at one park then doing dinner and a nighttime show at another.
 
As people have said, you just have to know your own child, and what works with them. We will NOT park hop with our 4 yr old, because he doesn't like too much change. Once we are in one park, I would need a crow bar to get him to leave. That said, if we were going with other kids or older kids, he would probably go with the flow.

You should probably ask whoever you're travelling with what their preferences are. My husband is aghast at how "complicated" a Disney vacation is (and we still haven't talked about Fast Passes!) so I said just one park a day to make it less confusing for him!
 
Driving to MK, no way would I leave to park hop. Too much of a time sucker, especially with shorter park hours. EPCOT/HS? Maybe since there's so little to do at HS right now.

What's the reason for taking the car?
 


Last year ds was 4 and we hopped everyday, but we used Disney transportation. Managed to do 3 out of 4 parks in 1 day started in HS ds was tired so we walked to Epcot dh and I walked around snacking at f&w while little guy napped then went to AK for dinner res at tusker house, and I got to ride Everest. Tried to get dh to stop at MK on the way back to our resort but he was tired. :rotfl2:Usually though we start the day in one park and end in another. We do go back to room for a few hours in the afternoon to swim and relax before dinner and nighttime entertainment.
 
We have been going since my son was just shy of 3 and always hopped. Of course, there were only two parks at the time but still, we went between MK and Epcot. We normally stayed at the monorail resorts back then (they were all that was available if you wanted to stay on site) and would go back to the room when he got too tired for words or I got too tired for words (single mom) then later in the day we would normally go to a different park. We still that and he is 37.
 
It's interesting to see that the answers are as unique as everyone's children. We've always had Hoppers, back to when our oldest was an infant. Now he's 5 and his little sister is 3, and we still couldn't imagine a trip without having that flexibility.

We normally start the day in one park (for instance MK on a party night), go back to the room/pool for a little quiet time mid-afternoon, then head back out for dinner and some evening fun in another park. Sometimes, the second park is what we planned, sometimes it's based on where we eat, and sometimes its just because.

I can't use the word "flexibility" enough. First, we can plan meals around what we want to eat and what reservations are available (even at 180+10), instead of having to plan around park days. Also, we've had days where we've gone to a park and it's been shoulder-to-shoulder, can barely move crowded. This happened to us last November in AK. Having Hoppers, we were able to bounce over to MK and use the MDE app to schedule an endless progression of FastPasses in a much less crowded atmosphere.

Te each his/her own. I'd never call out anyone on the way they prefer to travel or see the parks, but for us, Park Hoppers have been the difference between relaxation and frustration when plans went sideways.
 
I think if you plan on going back to your hotel for a midday break then park hopping wouldn't be any more work than just returning to the first park. In that case, I think it would just depend on a family's preference on whether they want to go to a different or the same park in the afternoon. Now, if you don't plan on a midday hotel break, then (especially with little kids), park hopping seems like more hassle than what it's worth. We had a 7yo and almost 2 yo and never went back for midday breaks. We park hopped once. It was after Epcot closed and we took the monorail to MK for EMH. We found it took a good bit of time waiting for the monorail, getting off at TTC, walking down a long ramp and up the second ramp to wait for the monorail to MK, then the walk and line to get into MK. It just wasn't worth it. We had also planned to park hopping on our last day but felt that it just wasn't worth the travel time. Now, we might feel different if we were driving, but that takes time too.

One thing I cannot stress enough is that with kids, everything takes so much longer. Everyone talks about how Hollywood Studios has become a half day park. We spent a full day there and still missed several things. We had the same touring style with 2 adults and a 9 yo several years ago and saw everything we wanted to in each park in a day. This time, with little ones, we missed so much. Don't stress trying to fit everything in. Some of my best memories of this trip were watching my toddler look at ducks at Epcot and dance on the light up carpet in the interactive area after the Figment ride.
 
As most people have said, it depends on your child. My son at 3 1/2 was a great park hopper! We just watched his moods and adjusted to his needs. We didn't have any meltdowns at all that trip, it was great!
 
We never park hopped but did this last trip and it worked out great. We spent the morning in one park, back to hotel to rest/pool, and evening in another park. I think I am going to park hop from now on.
 
HI, it's been awhile since I took a child that young to Disney. We are going in Jan., which means shorter park hours. Staying on-site but plan on driving to parks. Is it worth it to park hop or should we just pick a park and spend the day there (minus any nap times)?

We love park hopping and have done it every trip with our kids. We've traveled with one baby, a toddler and a baby, and finally 3 kids under 7. If you plan to park hop, it's great. I don't like being stuck in one park either plus if there is something you miss or your child really enjoys, I feel park hopping gives you the option to go back to it without "wasting" a whole day. Usually our last day, if time allows, we allow each of the kids to pick their favorite ride/activity and we do it one last time.

However, what I do NOT advise is making a dining reservation at one park and trying to park hop over to that park to make the reservation. It took many stressful encounters of that before we learned that was a BAD idea. It wasted so much time and ended every time with cranky kids and stressed out parents. Of course it always took longer to get to point A to point B than planned. :)

Have a great vacation!
 
We park hopped with our 2.5 year old and it turned out great. Planning to do the same thing next summer when we go back with our 2.5 and 4.5 year old kids. We enjoyed the flexibility of being able to come and go to parks and not having to worry about coordinating dining reservations so much by location each day. Plans change with kids---you may find that it is raining when you planned to go to one park and decide to do another park or spend some extra time in the hotel that day. It is nice having the flexibility if you can afford the extra price.
 

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top